stevsstehnWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ste” and “stehn” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,778
“ste” frequency rank
#24,938
“stehn” frequency rank
50716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ste stehn
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs biti stehen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ste and stehn apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ste
5 ch
stehn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

ste and stehn are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ste” sits inside “stehn”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ste is recorded at frequency rank #25,778, classified as averb, pronounced […]. stehn is at rank #24,938, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃteːn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 50716, this pair ranks #1,163,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ste vs stehn

Shared letters: est. Private to "ste": -. Private to "stehn": hn.

"ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "stehn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehnsethn · sstehn · stehhn · stehnn · stenh · sthen · sttehn · tsehn

Frequency comparison

ste#25,778
stehn#24,938

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ste" and "stehn" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ste” sits inside “stehn”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "ste" or "stehn"?
"stehn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,938 in our German list, against #25,778 for "ste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ste vs stehn

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ste” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list